Blackstone Publishing proudly presents
"The Open Road of Forging One's Identity", our latest round of #BlackstoneBooktalks led by Blackstone authors 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗 𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑 (author of "Half Outlaw"), and 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐙𝐀𝐑𝐀 (author of "Manmade Constellations")!

𝐑𝐒𝐕𝐏 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃:
https://blackstoneaudio.zoom.us/.../WN...

This launch-focused event will celebrate the one-month book birthday of HALF OUTLAW (pub: 7/12), and the recent August 9 launch of "Manmade Constellations". A special two-book giveaway will be in store for the lucky readers who register using the link below!
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*FREE* to attend (registration required via the link above), the event will be streamed via our Facebook Live + Zoom on August 12, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. (EST) / 10:00 a.m. (PST). Once you’ve registered, we’ll send you the Zoom link and password on the day of the event!

Learn more about the authors and their releases below!
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ABOUT 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐖...

Looking for the missing half of herself, a woman goes on one last ride with the motorcycle club that raised her, and gets more than she bargained for.

After the tragic death of her parents when she was just four years old, Raqi is sent to live with her uncle Dodge in Escondido, California. Taking after her Mexican father, Raqi immediately faces hostility from the members of Dodge’s all-white, 1 percenter motorcycle club, the Lawless, and from her uncle himself. Being raised by a drug addict is no picnic, and Raqi must quickly learn how to survive. She manages to form a few friendships. Still, as soon as she can, she leaves the violence and bigotry behind and doesn’t look back.

Years later, Raqi is a successful partner at a law firm in Los Angeles. She gets a call from Billy, the leader of the Lawless. Dodge is dead, and Billy wants her to go on the Grieving Ride, a special ride taken for all deceased members, and one that strictly follows the deceased’s wishes. There is no way Raqi would ever attend, except for one thing: Billy promises to give her the address of her grandfather if she goes on the ride. It’s the address of her father’s father, her Mexican grandfather. Learning for the first time that she has other family and desperate to connect, she agrees. But this will be no ordinary Grieving Ride. Raqi is reacquainted with her old bike and with the various club members. During the cross-country trek, she will learn more about her uncle, and about herself, than she ever imagined possible.

Alternating between Raqi’s childhood and a present 90s setting, and accented by moments of magical realism, Half Outlaw is the story of one woman’s quest to find a better future while still wrestling with a tumultuous past. In her first adult novel, Alex Temblador gives readers an immersive look into a dangerous subculture at the end of an era, and a powerful and heartfelt story that explores self-knowledge, acceptance, and the meaning of family.

For more information visit: https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/half-outlaw-dwtb...

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ABOUT 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒...

A modern-day love story that explores childhood trauma, the boundaries between idealism and self-righteousness, and the heartaches we must confront in order to chart our courses forward.

Lo Gunderson feels trapped in her small midwestern hometown until she sees an ad for a free car in the local paper. To maintain her staunch anticapitalist values, she refuses to spend money on what she can find for free, so this car is the perfect ticket out of the town. Though it doesn’t cost any money, it still comes with a price. Blanche Peterson is dying and asks for a single favor—that Lo track down her estranged son, whom Blanche hasn’t seen in over a decade.

Before she can decide whether to fulfill Blanche’s dying wish, she needs to get the car started. She’s helped by John Blank, a Southern auto mechanic who moved up north for a fresh start. Despite vastly different backgrounds, they share an electrifying mutual attraction that threatens to upend Lo’s carefully constructed worldview.

Meanwhile, Blanche’s son, Jason, finds himself adrift after an argument with his girlfriend. Memories of his negligent mother and the death of his father resurface for the first time in years as he travels across the country searching for what comes next.

Manmade Constellations is a smart, magnetic, and emotional novel dedicated to the American landscape, exploring how taking to the open road teaches lessons that can’t be learned at home.

For more information visit: https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/manmade...